US drone shot down by Yemen

Yemen-based rebels have shot down a U.S. military strike and reconnaissance Reaper drone flying southeast of the capital city, Sanaa, a spokesperson for the Houthi rebels said on Saturday.

Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. Central Command for comment.

Why It Matters

The U.S. has been attacking Houthi forces in Yemen as they targeted international shipping vessels and routes through the Red Sea, while increasing their attacks on U.S. ally Israel in the past year.

Houthi rebels, who control swathes of war-torn Yemen, have expressed solidarity with Palestinian militant group Hamas since the start of Israel’s highly destructive war in Gaza. Israel vowed to eradicate the group after Hamas launched its unprecedented October 7 attacks last year, killing more than 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages into Gaza.

What To Know

Rebel forces hit the U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone using a locally made surface-to-air missile as it flew over the Al Bayda Governorate, an area in western Yemen, said Yahya Saree, a military spokesperson for Houthi fighters.

Saree said this was the 13th U.S. drone shot down by Houthi forces since last October. This could not be independently verified.

Each Reaper drone comes with a price tag of roughly $30 million.

The Iranian-backed Houthis have fired missiles and drones at Israel several times this month.

A senior Houthi official told the BBC on Friday that the rebels would “escalate our military targeting of Israel” in support of Palestinians in Gaza, despite Israeli airstrikes on the country.

The Israeli military said on Thursday that its fighter jets had struck Houthi targets on Yemen’s western coast and further inland, including the Sanaa International Airport and power stations and ports in the country. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said these “military targets were used by the Houthi terrorist regime to smuggle Iranian weapons into the region.”

In mid-November, the Pentagon said it had intercepted Houthi cruise and ballistic missiles, as well as drones, heading for U.S. warships in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The U.S. had been striking Houthi weapons storage facilities.

What People Are Saying

Saree in a statement: “We emphasize the continuation of countering any enemy’s attempts to attack the sovereignty of our country. We will continue our operations in support of Gaza until the encroachment on Gaza stops and the blockade is lifted.”

What Happens Next

The U.S. will very likely continue military operations against Houthi forces in Yemen, and Israel will carry on with its own strikes, although it is not clear how much more infrastructure the IDF assesses must be destroyed in Yemen.